The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department on Friday reported two new deaths related to COVID-19 — one of an individual age 50 to 69 and the other age 70 or older.

One of the individuals had underlying health conditions, and neither death was associated with a congregate care site. Additionally, one individual resided in Santa Maria, while the other resided in a North County unincorporated area.

As of Friday, there have been a total of 631 deaths related to the virus in Santa Barbara County since the pandemic began.

There were 96 COVID-19-positive hospitalizations on Friday, with 15 of the patients being treated in intensive-care units. 

According to the Community Data Dashboard, there was an ICU bed availability of 11.3% on Friday throughout the county, although COVID-19 use accounted for only 24.19% of adult staffed ICU beds on Friday.

Because of technical issues, COVID-19 case data was not available for Friday and will be delayed to Monday, Public Health officials said.

More than 71% of eligible Santa Barbara County residents were fully vaccinated as of Thursday, and a total of 765,700 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered throughout the county — 148,166 of which being booster doses.

Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.